We've tried to eat at Alex Di Peppe's a few times over the years at their old place but could never find a place to park. Finally, they moved down the road a bit to a small strip mall next to a 3-par golf course over in the east end of Arcadia.
We're glad they did. It's a solid Italian family restaurant with a very loyal clientele and a caring staff.
Although we started eating their family specials...where I could pick up a pizza, some pasta, bread, and salad on the way home from work when we didn't feel like cooking...Letty and I started coming by for dinner from time to time.
You might say it's your typical red sauce restaurant, and to some extent that's true, they do serve up some very good entrees along with all the pizza and pasta.
I'm a sucker for their veal dishes cooked scallopini, marsala, and picata
Letty goes for the seafood or maybe a vegetarian lasagna.
The pizza and pasta dishes are also very good and the prices reasonable
Alex Di Peppe's is at the corner of 6th and Live Oak in Arcadia about a mile or so west of the 605 freeway.
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Well, I guess it's time for the sauce this blog was named for, it's a Sunday Sauce recipe here on the Sunday Sauce blog. We'll be using it as an ingredient in what has turned out to be the best lasagna I've ever made...and I've made a few.
So get your grocery list ready, have a bottle of wine handy, and spend a few hours making this delicious sauce for an outstanding lasagna.
Recipes at the links below.
DINNER: Lasagna with sausage and spinach cream sauce
SAUCE: Sunday Sauce
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
We're making a lasagna for dinner this week. The lasagna itself is not a lot of work but the sauce is so be sure to do this ahead of time (recipes via the links in the recipe below).
Lasagna is basically just layers of whatever flavors and stuffings you like, stacked up between flat ribbons of pasta and baked.
As certain cartoon cats can attest, it's delicious!
INGREDIENTS1 box lasagna pasta (we're using a diabetic friendly whole wheat version)1/2 pound shredded ozzarella1/2 grated Parmesan1 tablespoon olive oil24 oz. Sunday Sauce 16 oz. spinach cream sauce1 pound Italian sausage1/cup ricotta cheese
In a sauce pan, cook the Italian sausage until cooked through and browned. Pour in the tomato sauce (Sunday Sauce) and mix thoroughly. Let boil for a couple of minutes.
In a square or rectangular baking pan, put in the olive oil. With a paper towel, wipe all interior surfaces with the oil so it is well coated. Put in two lasagna noodles, side by side.
(NOTE: We're using a whole wheat version that does not need cooking ahead of time but many lasagna noodles do need to be boiled in water until al dente first)
Spoon in just enough of the tomato Sunday Sauce to cover the pasta completely. Put a handful of mozzarella over the sauce.
Put two more noodle on top of that. Press down and try to make level and flat. Sprinkle a layer of Parmesan, then a layer of the spinach cream sauce.
Two more pastas, and another layer of the tomato sauce with a layer of ricotta. Two more pastas and another layer of the Parmesan and spinach cream sauce. Two more pastas, the rest of the mozzarella.
Cover and tent (with an air space between the top of the lasagna and foil) with foil.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes.
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
God has given us an abundance of tomatoes this year, the challenge is to use them all.
This week, it's everybody in the pool as I make a sauce for my lasagna. I have four hybrid, 1/2 heirloom, and about a dozen cherry tomatoes leftover from last week's harvest that I need to use before they go bad.
First step, chop them all up into cubes. The cherry tomatoes will just be cut in half like I did with my pizza sauce a few weeks ago.
As I dice, they all go into a bowl, awaiting their fate. A tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a sauce pan is getting hot in the meantime, where I saute half an onion chopped up in a food processor.
Once the onions are translucent, the tomatoes join them along with half a cup of water, half a teaspoon of sugar, teaspoon of salt, a generous sprinkling of pepper, half a teaspoon of minced garlic, and another half teaspoon of oregano.
I bring to a boil, stirring, for ten minutes and then let simmer on low for a little over an hour.
When done, the sauce looks like this.
Next, I fry up a pound of Italian sausage and cook some lasagna noodles in boiling water for about eight minutes until slightly soft (al dente).
I oil up a baking pan with olive oil, lay in two strips of the lasagna noodles, and start to create layers. One layer may be sauce with sausage and parmesan cheese, the next sauce and ricotta cheese, the next sauce, cream, and mozzarella...it's up to you, whatever you want to put in.
Finished, I top with a generous layer of mozzarella to have a nice, melty layer of cheese on top.
375 degrees for 45 minutes, covered with foil. Remove the foil and cook for another 20 minutes. Take out and let cool for 10 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.
DarrylCopyright 2015 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
